An Odd Way To Start Off
by LynnaJones
Summary: Sort of an original with undertones from different books. Did this for my mother who is a major zombie freak, but am unsure if there is even going to be zombies. Told from POV, and may actually suck. Newsflesh Trilogy, The Walking Dead, ect.
1. What Oddness Is This?

Tonight I was sitting at the kitchen table. Sitting. Thinking. Staring off into space. Something I've not done in years. I don't normally have the time or aloneness to do that. It was rather nice for once. However, I started looking around the house. Studied the angel figurine with her blonde hair, goldish wings, white dress the gold and silver trim. Looked long and hard at the faerie sitting on her pink petaled flower, blue dress spread about her ankles, and glittery wings spread wide. Started looking toward the table. How cluttered it was. Sugar tub sitting out, canister of coffee, trash bags that needed taking to the bedroom. Baby wipes and whole wheat bread. A years old crock pot that had been left sitting out on the porch so long spiders had been nesting in it. A bag of baby clothes.

Then around the kitchen...high chair, black trash can already overflowing after only an hour. Pots and pans piled high in the sink, a floor that desperately needed sweeping. Blender, microwave, the sharps container hung above it. Coffee maker, colander, various pictures-my personal favorite, '4 out of 3 people admit they are poor with fractions'. The food shelves filled and unorganized except for the baby shelf. A pot of water on the stove, softly boiling, set for hot tea. The skeleton apron, and now Julie comes to make a cup of tea. I don't know what it is, but tonight feels different. As if something is wrong, something shouldn't be the way it is. Had a disagreement with Devin earlier. I had asked him, then pleaded, and finally bartered and traded with him to at the very least wash dishes. He ended up putting it off, that he would do it in the morning. I just did them myself. I was disappointed.

But it didn't matter. My head was spinning. Felt like the world was darkening. And it was. My vision went dark. The walls were still there, I could still make out everything in the room. The pain from pulling out another set of stitches left my lower right side, didn't even notice it anymore. I looked around, slowly stood. The room was dark. As if someone had flipped the switch. I looked up. The lights were out. Even more, the whole ceiling fan was on the floor in pieces. Broken glass littered the floor. My flip flops didn't make a sound as I turned a full circle. The fridge door was hanging open, the contents either rotted or what it looked like raided. Same with the freezer, yet its door wasn't even on its hinges. Pots and pans were scattered, looked dented, handles broken off. Shelves overturned, food stuffs either raided or just spilled on the floor amidst broken wood, shelving, glass and plaster. I turned my head. The knickknacks on the half wall shelf were gone. As was the table. I saw a couple of what looked like the legs of the table shoved thru the broken window beside what used to be the oven. Everything was wrong! I walked to the hall, stood in front of the living room.

Everything was destroyed! All the baby toys, the furniture, the windows! My baby's brand new toy that my grandparents had bought for him lay in broken pieces. The red chair was torn and broken apart. The leather seats were overturned and shredded. I turned down the hall. Julie's room looked to have been raided. Bedding was missing, or just torn apart. Red splotches marred the walls. Some in specific designs. Some just splattered across it. The closet doors were gone, a splinter of wood left on one hinge. The next room wasn't any better. The toddler bed looked melted. The bed was no better. Burnt as it was I couldn't even be sure it was an empty bed. Tv shattered on the floor, dresser in splintered pieces. The bathroom sink looked as if someone had taken a sledge hammer to it. The one that hit me the worst tho. My bedroom. The bedroom my baby sleeps in. The crib my baby sleeps in was in pieces. And not all of the pieces were there. The crib mattress was missing. Along with the futon mattress I slept on. Shelves were torn off the walls. Holes from the wall anchors leaving ugly spots covered in paint, ink, and other substances. The dresser was nonexistent. As if someone had taken lighter fluid, doused it, and flicked a lit match on it. The closet was empty. Even the bow and arrows, the swords, weapons of whatever era were all gone. I panicked. My baby's crib was gone. So where was my baby? I turned quickly and walked back down the hall. Not bothering to try and read the writings on the walls. I walked to the front door, stared long and hard. I worried what I would find on the other side. Even the view from the broken windows wasn't enough to tell me what I was walking out into. But my baby...I had to find him. I didn't know where he was. I slowly reached for the handle. Amazingly the door was intact for the most part. I took hold. Where was I going to go? Why was the house this way? What HAPPENED to it? And to everyone? I slowly turned the knob, forcing it the last little ways...

...And pulled.


	2. Unnerving Quiet

The world outside was hazy. Have you ever watched or played Silent Hill? Sort of like that. I felt like I was standing in the middle of some zombie apocalypse game. My mother would love it, the zombie freak. I looked around. Everything seemed to be in order. There wasn't any burning cars, or houses torn to the ground. Hell, there didn't even seem to be a single blade of grass out of place! I couldn't understand it. I took a few cautious steps down off the porch, looked left and right, thoroughly searching for anything that might jump out and try to eat me.

Nothing.

I turned to look up at the house. It looked...normal? But...how could that be? I KNEW the windows were broken on the inside. How could they be perfectly fine on the OUTSIDE? Hm. I turned back and scanned the yard. The chain that was used to tie the dog to the tree was still there. I slowly made my way to one side of the porch, picked up Devin's really long, thin stick. The thicker one was gone. Then I started to make my way to the dog chain, making sure to keep an eye on my surroundings. All of my surroundings. You watch as many zombie apocalypse movies as I have with my mother, and you tend to get a little paranoid when this sort of situation occurs. I got down under the tree, making sure to keep the staff as much at ready as I could being as I was on my knees bent under a tree. I unhooked the chain from the tree and quickly stood back up, turning a full circle to make sure nothing was coming up on me. I took the stick and shoved the end into the ground, making it stay upright. After that I wrapped the chain around my waist, clasping it and wrapping the loose end around my forearm. After making certain I could still extend my arm and swing my new stickish weapon in full circle swings without catching the chain, I took another good look around.

Still nothing.

And no one. All the houses that I could see, looked normal. I wondered if they looked as good on the inside. Or if they looked like the one I just walked out of. I walked to the end of the walkway and stood next to the mailbox. Looking down the street both way, trying to decide which way I wanted to go, I continued to wonder why there was no one around. Not even any animals. I was unwilling to speak. Unwilling to call out, just in case something was lurking around where I couldn't see it. Good rule to follow when you got no clue what the hell is going on? Don't ever call attention to yourself. Keep your mouth shut. Finally deciding I was going to head straight for a main road, I turned to the right. Still keeping an eye behind me, and on both sides, I took a deep breath, held the staff at a ready position in front of me...

And started walking.


	3. Here Kitty Kitty

Okay, this was going beyond just a little creepy. I had managed to make it to Lebanon Pk without encountering anyone or anything. Even the cats were gone. All the dogs of the neighborhood were missing as well. Okay, so maybe not so heartbroken over the dogs, but if I was going to get eaten I didn't want it to be by some dang zombie animal! This isn't Resident Evil here!

I turned onto Lebanon at the traffic light, and automatically went for the left. If I was walking anywhere it was going to be toward my family down in Donelson. I didn't know what time it was, but from the bright sun in the sky it couldn't even be afternoon yet. There again, I could be wrong. I wasn't a survivalist. Yay for the apocalypse. I figured first I would stop in Walmart.

As I made my way across an empty intersection I started a mental list of things I would need. And of course, since I was going to Walmart! Everyone knows you can get anything at Walmart. Note my sarcasm there, would ya?

Hell. Walmart, the one place you can buy a shotgun, bullets, and a black ski mask and no one will say a thing about it! And you know SOMEONE had to have pulled that shit before. I tallied everything I would need and then started eliminating things I knew I would never be able to carry with.

Ugh.

Ya know, I am not really a very organized person. I like a little clutter. This wasn't a good time however. As I got closer to the doors of Walmart I started noticing all the cars. Maybe there were people inside. Maybe there weren't. Ugh. Paranoia, you are my best friend now, huh?

Damn. Serves me right. Guess I shouldn't have grown up watching so many horror movies. Just my flipping luck I all of a sudden get stuck in one! Hm. Not so much a horror yet, maybe just a suspense thriller.

What am I doing? I spin quickly, casting looks behind me and to the sides, kicking myself in the head for not keeping a look out in the first place.

Still nothing?

I reach the sliding doors. Still holding the staff in one hand I pry my fingers into the crack in the doors and pull them apart. They give easily. I cautiously step inside, trying to keep an eye on everything at once. As once as I was certain nothing was going to jump out at me, (and I still wasn't a hundred percent certain of that) I quickly and quietly made my way down the aisles. After grabbing a back pack I knew I was able to carry full, I began to fill it. Quickly. Either my paranoia was seriously getting to me, or it truly wasn't a good idea to be in here.

The store didn't look bad. There was a few parts where it looked as if looting had been done, and other parts where it just looked as if it had been destroyed for the hell of it, but overall, not real bad.

I got what I needed and quickly made my way back to the front of the store and out the sliding doors. Keeping an eye around me, I started sliding the doors back into place. Thinking back later I'd be glad I did it. As soon as the doors were securely wedged shut, something finally decided to jump out at me.

From inside the store.

BANG! CRACK!

It banged against the glass and caused me to stumble backward, barely able to keep my mouth shut against the scream that automatically tried escaping.

What if I had encountered this while I was still inside? What would it have done to me? It didn't look like anything I had seen before. Good thing it didn't have posable thumbs. I'd be screwed. Looking around to make sure this was the only *thing* around, and that it couldn't get out, I studied it.

It looked like a large cat of some sort. But oddly formed. The legs were longer, and strangely jointed. The torso was also longer, thicker but without fur or hair. Its face was the only thing that looked semi normal. Except for the rabies-ish drool and widened nostrils. It wasn't baring its teeth at me, but it didn't look too friendly either. The color of its skin made me think of the movie Dawn of the Dead. The remake, not the original. Black mottled skin, bluish and greenish veins all over. Just like the zombie baby that was born.

I knew it! Dang it, Mother! Where are ya when I need your zombie expertise! Eh. So maybe this might just be Resident Evil. But at least this sure as hell wasn't Raccoon City!

I hope.

The thing continued to stare at me. It didn't move. Just stared. It was creeping me out. I wanted to make damn certain it couldn't follow me. But I wasn't willing to open the doors to attempt killing it. So I backed away.

It followed me with its eyes.

Very unnerving, that. I kept my eyes darting back and forth. Wanting to keep watch on that thing but also unwilling to leave myself open for other things to try and eat me. Let's hope those things are vegetarian. When I finally got back to Lebanon Pk, I started jogging a little. Chris would be proud. Just because I wasn't so much one for bikes and stuff like that, I had still decided to grab one. One of those trick bikes that he would've loved to have.

When I got closer to the Kroger behind Walmart, checking to make sure nothing was following me, I climbed on the bike, situating my packs and the staff well enough, I started forward as quickly as I could.

I wasn't about to stick around this neighborhood.


End file.
